Discover a new flavor…

This should be your easiest challenge yet since the harvests are all coming in from the farmer’s markets and early fall is abundant with fragrant food.

Just today I tried vegan “Tofu benedict” with cashew cream hollandaise sauce. Yup! It was delicious. Flavors galore. I was told I wouldn’t miss regular eggs benedict. That was a lie, but separately I’m glad I got to know a new side of my favorite nut. Literally.

Last week we filmed 10 cooking segments for the upcoming winter PATH Adventure (registration opens in November) and we tasted sweet potato cookies and, don’t laugh or cringe, we made meat balls out of cod fish with an avocado sauce that was to die for. That’s right, fishy business.

So, go on… What have you got to lose?

Hey we agree sometimes it’s a leap, this wellness business. But we’ve got the past nine weeks to prove it’s a beautiful thing. Your posts of stunning places, exciting activities, superb food and extraordinary role models have been inspiring beyond words. Well, actually your pictures say a million words! Haha!

These posts all make wellness look like a snap. Easy Peasy.

But let’s be real. We know you’re only showing us the highlights and we know that summer makes it a little easier to be care free, revved up for fun and full of fresh foods. We also know that most of you are now back in the throes of shaping Vermont’s future. The yeoman’s work for sure.

Wellness soon may take a back seat to runny noses, lost homework, leaky roofs, frustrating parents, meddlesome colleagues, relentless paperwork, unfunded mandates and on and on.

Making your wellbeing a priority in the midst of all that will be more than yeoman’s work. Honestly, making habits stick has never been easy work but it is rewarding. The yeoman toiled to become a land owner. Once you own your habits, you’re on your way to solid, automatic, wellbeing. Every day is a new day to work in it. Step out and grab hold of those new flavors and new habits you’ve racked up this summer. Celebrate your hard work and get ready for what’s next.

And as Michelle Obama recently told a gaggle of college students (from at-risk backgrounds) on their way back to school:

“This isn’t supposed to be easy. So if it’s not easy, you’re right on track. If you’re feeling uncomfortable, know that I felt uncomfortable too. You just gotta push through. You can’t give up on things when they feel uncomfortable, because that’s life, you know. You gotta learn to deal with that discomfort if you’re gonna be ready for the next thing. All it is is work. You worked hard before, you’ve got this.”

You have it in you.

Post your great “Flavorful” photos and share your stories of how the summer challenge will take you into the fall and winter. We love everything you tell us!

Cheers and enjoy.

See you on the PATH Ahead.

It’s Week Nine of our Sizzlin’ Summer Challenge and thus far, we have deemed it a roaring success. For the majority of school employees, this is also the first full week in your respective buildings.  I can only imagine that with this week also comes a breadth of emotions, from the positive, such as excitement and enthusiasm; to the more difficult such as apprehension and disappointment.

Thus, it’s the perfect week to spend a bit of time with one of your role models. This may sound relatively simple but perhaps the role model who first comes to mind is far from accessible. Should that ring true, we assume you will be able to connect with someone, who you respect and would like to emulate.

I often wonder how many of Vermont’s school employees are committed to working with school-age youth because of a positive connection once made as a student with a teacher, para-educator, food service employee or an administrator. As I think back, I most admired Mrs. Gamble, my junior high physical education and health education teacher. She was tall, young, athletic and assertive and she encouraged me to participate in the Friday night ski trips and the girl’s swim team.  Perhaps she is the reason I love working in health promotion and dipping all my toes into the pool.

Last week, I had the chance to spend time with another one of my role models. Thirty five years ago, Anita and I met at a League of Women Voter’s open house in Scituate, MA and bonded as community activists and as mothers of young children. When I asked her to send along a recent picture of us, she questioned my selection. “You see me as one of your role models?” And I immediately responded. “Absolutely – I love your energy, your sense of adventure, your keen ability to hear others, your openness and friendliness, how easy it is to converse about new ideas and the fact that we can get punchy together over nothing.”  Last Monday, we hiked up onto the Tablelands at the Gros Morne National Park in Newfoundland to experience what it feels like to walk upon the earth’s mantle and to welcome in the solar eclipse.  Though Anita is a few years my senior, she easily climbed upward through multiple piles of jagged rocks to the first of many bowls without hesitation. And as we patiently awaited the eclipse, we once again found plenty of sheer nothingness to laugh about.

See you on the PATH Ahead

The VEHI PATH team

Dip a toe in the water, meaning, to tentatively ease into the unknown (circa 1900). When we wrote the title of this week’s summer challenge goal, we intended for everyone to spend a little time near a body of water before heading back to school. You don’t actually have to dive in, but be near water and history proves that healing happens – like it or not.

It’s an age old practice. At the turn of the 20^th century doctors ordered seaside stays or hot springs healing retreats for all kinds of aliments. In recent years science has begun its favorite task of assembling empirical evidence for such age-old practices.

So what is it about bodies of water that cures? Is it the salty, sticky sea air? That pungent yet seaweedy sweet humidity that we all inhale upon reaching the pier? Flowers seem to grow better in such environments, why wouldn’t we? Is it the ripple of the waves and color of that blue-green soup that arcs and sways around us?

Or is it the twinkle of the sun (or moon) that bounces off the surface and speaks to our dreams?

The answer is yes and so much more. That evidence of which we speak doesn’t so much answer the question of how bodies of water work their magic but rather what they do. Robust studies are now showing simply being near water and watching it reduces blood pressure, calms nerves and improves mood dramatically. And even a simple fish tank helps – but of course the bigger the better.

A couple of small, promising Japanese studies show that the ionization of the air near the water’s edge also helps change health markers for the better, acting a bit like probiotics from trees and other greenery in nature. And, certainly the combination of water and green space packs a one-two punch to bacteria and stress.

Large European studies have shown that photos and green space increase people’s health. Since 87% of the people in the UK live in packed urban areas, parks have become more important than ever. Add in the use of even simple water features and they’re finding that those increases explode.

Once again, what we know to be intuitively true, we’re now, quite literally, dipping our toe in the water on the reasoned and pragmatic facts: blue space matters.

Go forth! Find yourself a water feature and soak it up this week. It’s especially important as you dip your toe into the new year and begin school with a carefree, open mind. Breath in that ionized air and relax to the wonderful notion of good possibilities flowing ahead.

Good luck all you back-to-schoolers! Hears to hoping your year goes swimmingly! (See what we did there?)

“Water does not resist. Water flows. When you plunge your hand into it, all you feel is a caress. Water is not a solid wall, it will not stop you. But water always goes where it wants to go, and nothing in the end can stand against it. Water is patient. Dripping water wears away a stone. Remember that, my child. Remember you are half water. If you can’t go through an obstacle, go around it. Water does.”
― Margaret Atwood, The Penelopiad

See you on the PATH Ahead,

The PATH Team.

What’s the difference between a hobby and something you are passionate about? Is one a synonym for another?  If they are different, how might you determine which is which? As I contemplated these questions, I found myself searching online for guidance. That was until I stumbled upon the following definition that spoke to me. “Passion is a burning inside of ourselves that must be satiated. It is something that you are pulled in by and something that is extremely hard to dismiss.”

Wow.  Doesn’t that definition say it all?  And thus, as you ponder about what may be burning inside of you that you may wish to post this week, I will share a bit about two individuals who consistently put their passion front and center.  The first was Cornelia Pinchot.  Early in her life, Pinchot, chose to focus on advocating for better conditions for working women.  After the disastrous 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in NYC, in which 123 women of all ages lost their lives, Pinchot served as the fire inspector for the Committee of Safety to pass better safety laws for women employed in buildings.  She then became ensconced in women’s suffrage, spoke out in support of birth control and encouraged women to take an active role in a career and politics. Pinchot served on the local school board and when her husband, Gifford Pinchot, decided to run for the Pennsylvania governorship, she campaigned tirelessly for his election, encouraging women, with their newfound right to vote, to vote for him. “It was due to Mrs. Pinchot and the women she organized, far more than to any other single factor, that we won,” said Gifford Pinchot after he clinched the office.  Throughout the rest of her life, Cornelia Pinchot remained politically active promoting labor law reforms and advocating for the establishment of trade unions.  She once was quoted as saying,  “My feminism tells me that a woman can scrub a floor, cook a dinner, paint a picture, charm her husband, swim the channel, bear a child and battle for the Lord all on the same day so to speak.”

The second was the renowned musician and singer, Glen Campbell who passed away last week.  In 2011, Campbell, announced that he had Alzheimer’s disease. Rather than disappear from public view, Campbell did the opposite.  Determined to tell his story and show the world the highs and lows that come with Alzheimer’s disease, he opted for doing a farewell tour – his long goodbye-to his fans across the country. Over a two and a half year period of time, he performed 151 shows with the help of a teleprompter for the lyrics and his grown children, serving as the backup band. Campbell’s unrelenting passion for playing music and entertaining during this most vulnerable of times provided him with the drive to see it through.

What might be pulling you in this summer?  Do you have a newfound passion or something that continues to propel you time and time again? We look forward to learning more.

See you on the PATH Ahead,

The VEHI PATH team

Why are we making you exercise with a group?

Watch any sporting event or competition and listen to the winner’s interview at the end. What’s the number one thing they always note as the key to their success? “If not for my fans, friends, family, the crowd here….” The support, the people. Just thinking about those people even as you exercise alone can help boost your energy:

“Everything I do, all year, training so hard, it’s all about this moment when we’re all together, this crowd, these people, this excitement of what we all love doing together. I feed off them, they feed off me. [Crowd roars] See that?”

– Vermonter Mathew Fraser, 2017 World CrossFit Games Champion (5-times games competitor and now back-to-back champ; he earned 1132 out of 1300 points – the most dominant win in CrossFit history)

So why are we asking you to exercise with a group?

Let’s continue to break it down. Simply put, friendships are invaluable. Of course we know that in our gut but science always likes to prove what intuition has made immutable for millennia.

• Friends help keep you accountable.
• Friends help you handle rejection and loss.
• Friends provide resources and ideas on how to get handle a myriad of situations. They don’t call it crowdsourcing for nothin’.
• Friends help you see reality so you’re not beating yourself up more than you deserve yet not wasting away in denial.
• Just being together helps reduce inflammation and increase immune function. This is huge people. Your DNA actually changes. We’re talking at the cellular level. Your whole body takes on a stronger immune response.
• Sharing information and staying quick witted with your friends helps stave off dementia.
• Friends help influence our behaviors. If you’re surrounded by people who are healthy or trying to be healthy, that effort only multiplies. Behavior is contagious!

And so much more. The bottom line is that good friendships and loving-kindness add quality years to your life. People who live to 100 and beyond cite life-long friendships as crucial. Japanese children are connected to friends as toddlers and attend weekly meetings for life – yes, for life! Happiness and Positive Psychology pioneer Chris Peterson famously said, “Other people are the antidote to all that ails.”

Be with a good group of people this week while you burn some calories and see how great it makes you feel. Why, we get goose bumps just from seeing all the pictures of your smiling faces enjoying healthy living and summer together.

So why are we asking you to exercise with a group?

We don’t think it will make you a super champion in grueling sport but we know it will make you a champion in your own heart, with your own pursuits and in your own community. Fist bump.

Some of us can easily name a slew of their hobbies when asked while others are stymied by the question.    What’s the upside of having a hobby?  Hobbies can provide us much needed pleasure, a sense of accomplishment, help to relieve our stress, boost our creativity, expand our thinking patterns (and dependent on the hobby expand our neural pathways), provide us the opportunity to delve into a subject and gain new skills and bring forth new social connections.

When psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihayi queried individuals from a variety of cultures around the world to learn more about how they felt when they did what they enjoyed most, the answer time and time again was designing or discovering something new.  Novelty and discovery are vital to our continued well-being. Hobbies, whether it’s collecting stamps, growing a variety of plants, playing a favorite sport or dabbling in new languages brings a greater sense of contentment into our lives.  Hobbies often fluctuate over one’s lifetime.  Until a few years ago, I was committed to learning different ice dancing routines but in the aftermath of the recession and the fact that our local dance studio is only a mile away, I replaced my skates with a tap dancing shoes.  Though the movement patterns are just as challenging, I find myself on the ground much less frequently.

Ashley Johnson, our newest VEHI PATH team member says she loves to draw because it’s relaxing, distracts her from other things and helps to focus her energy on something more detail oriented. And, Amy Gilbert took up raising bees a few years ago because she wanted to increase our pollinators, help the environment and sell a bit of honey.  Though it was far from easy – bears destroyed the hives, other bees robbed the hives and the remaining bees swarmed or froze, she said it brought her great joy. ” I learned so much about bees and love watching them collect pollen from my flowers, cool their hive by flapping their wings and build the most amazing honeycomb,” she said.

Hobbies nourish our soul and provide rich replenishment.   We look forward to learning a bit more about some of your hobbies this week.  That’s right – Flaunt Them!!

“A joyful life is an individual creation that cannot be copied from a recipe.”
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

See you on the PATH Ahead.

The VEHI PATH team

Trails benefit everyone. Happier, healthier people build a better local economy and foster a great sense of community. Research is clear that building it brings people to it, so to speak. Our human nature is to wander the “greenways” of our world. Cut a swath, hang some signposts and the curious will descend.

Simply put, communities that support walking paths and nature trails are healthier by design. Furthermore, these trails can often be a person’s only safe access to the great outdoors.

Have you ever driven past a community trail or path a number of times only to repeat “one day I should walk that.” Well now’s the time. Honor the care someone else took in cutting that path, maintaining it and loving it on our behalf. Honor your heart and its love of beating fast on a brisk jaunt. Honor a friend by taking them on an adventure in the woods and solving the world’s problems together.

Nature trails are a win-win for all involved.

This spring when I had an hour to kill before a workshop I found myself finally driving into Niquette Bay State Park. Moments later I’d seen water fowl, an adorable family, kids and a dog frolicking on a beach, a gorgeous overlook, lovers snuggling on a bench, a blanket of white trillium and lots of dappled sunlight. I was sweating and beaming all at once. And man was I on my game when I went back to work.

Vermont State Parks are just about as good as it gets in America. Elmore has a fire tower and a giant balancing rock. Green River Reservoir has no motor boats and thus more loons and beaver than people. Across the state, end-to end, there are forts and lakes, big summits and little interpretive walks, Torch-lit evening jaunts, Pisgah cliff edges or wide lowland handholding strolls. There are sandbars and waterfalls, pothole swimming spots and rushing currents. There’s even a Japanese Garden in the Taconics. And oh the history! It’s all green as green can be, like a big green fuzzy muppet.

Hike, wonder, bike, paddle, dance, or even do yoga on top of Mount Philo on Mondays at 6 pm. Your parks and historical sites are working hard on your behalf. Support them by supporting your mind, body and soul on an outdoor adventure, large or small.

“Some trails are happy ones,
Others are blue.

It’s the way you ride the trail that counts,
Here’s a happy one for you.

Happy trails to you,
Until we meet again.
Happy trails to you,
Keep smiling until then.

Who cares about the clouds when we’re together?
Just sing a song, and bring the sunny weather.

Happy trails to you,
Until we meet again.

– Dale Evans

The first image that comes to mind when I think about the phrase “lift your spirits” is one of traveling above Vermont’s landscape in a hot air balloon.  Though I have not yet found the wherewithal to make this visualization a reality, I believe I have garnered the feelings of exhilaration and wonder that come with such travel thanks to my many trips to experience the IMAX documentary To Fly! at the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum.

How might you illustrate and share an image representing the lifting of your spirits?  The possibilities are infinite as we are each blessed with unique thoughts and feelings.  Sharon Salzberg, meditation practitioner and author of the book Real Love suggests that our well-being is enriched when we regularly incorporate loving kindness meditations about others as well as about ourselves into our lives.

What about something you have read, heard or observed recently that has lifted your spirits? Here is some staggering information that recently crossed my path, filled my heart with hope and makes me want to shout it out to the masses.  According to the World Bank, more than a billion people have been lifted out of poverty in the past decade.  Every day over 300,000 individuals get electricity for the first time and over 250,000 people get access to clean water. And for the first time in our world’s history, the percentage of individuals who are suffering has been significantly reduced.  Wow! That is amazing.

Perhaps you are traveling to a new culture or learning a new language and doing so is lifting your spirits?  Or perhaps you have invited guests from afar into your home this fair summer to partake of all New England has to offer. Then again, maybe what’s lifting you up is riding an elevator to the top of a skyscraper, slowly climbing up the tracks on a roller coaster or hiking to the top of a new mountainous peak?   Whatever it may be,  we look forward to seeing and learning more.

Oh and one more piece of news that is most definitely lifting our spirits.  We have a brand new employee joining the VEHI PATH wellness team today.  Please welcome Ashley as she begins her new journey with us and with all of you. Stay tuned.

See you on the PATH Ahead.

Shevonne, Gillian, Amy, Ashley and Larae

Some say the most memorable days often end with dirty clothes. We agree. A step farther and those who really love to get messy will tell you, “Life is too short to have clean fingernails”. Ha! Welcome a splashy mud puddle, a gushy hiking trail, or a slippery slope and suddenly you’re sloppy but happy and giggling.

Maybe we don’t agree with the fingernail thought in perpetuity but diving into loamy, beautiful, cool soil hands or feet first is a pretty special feeling and, of course, soap the great redeemer when all is said and done.

Let’s face it, the best showers are the ones we take after getting totally grimy. Just imagine it. You can’t help but “ahhhh”.

Why do we love playing in the dirt?

Research tells us that soil-based organisms, or microorganisms in the dirt, water and outdoor air (in the woods, on the trail, at the beach or park, and in the garden) are actual probiotics for us. They get into our gut and fight the bad guys – and they do so better than any drug out there. They right our immune system and amp up our mental health. It’s not just a placebo, this fresh air and dirt drama. It really makes our bodies sing. That our precious Vermont landscape affords us such luxury is beyond words.

In our so-called civilized society we’re constantly in fear of seemingly unbeatable bacteria or mega viruses. Yet we’ve spent too much energy fighting bacteria with nasty chemicals when, right at our fingertips (quite literally), we have the shield we needed all along.

The more we access the dirt and air of the outdoors along with natural, clean, healthy foods, the stronger we become. In such strength, should a super bacteria come at us, we’ll be better able to use a pharmaceutical antibiotic to help us heal. Without our own powerful system, on the other hand, even the most potent drug might not help.

Finally, the exhilaration of being active in the dirt in itself is a real treat to our heart, lungs, bones and muscles. They say gardeners and hikers live longer than those who do neither. Now we know why.

So get out there and get dirty! And, better yet, get dirty with those you love, because messy is always better when you’re together.

And when you get home, tidy up with natural detergents and soap, of course, keeping the real world real.

“If I had a flower for every time I think of you, I could walk in my garden forever.”  – Alfred Lord Tennyson

A glorious welcome to the very first week of the Sizzlin’ Summer Challenge.  We are anticipating a countless slew of fabulous photos over the next 10 weeks while you are out and about in Vermont, other states or in other countries.  Yes, we recognize thus far it has been a rather soaking summer but the good news is that means there’s plenty of water to take advantage of should you want to swim, try yoga on a stand up paddle board, take a boat for a spin around a lake, fish in your favorite stream or paddle your kayak up a river.

Your first weekly goal is to organize a neighborhood gathering.  This challenge might be a windfall given the 4^th of July is Tuesday.   It’s the perfect time to invite folks over to celebrate our country’s annual recognition of independence, dress in your best red, white and blue, challenge each other to a variety of lawn games such as bocce, badminton, corn hole or croquet and dine on a marvelous menu of all of your summer favorites.   

Neighborhood gatherings have the power to bring you joy and cement your connections. What a great way to catch up on the news, tell fun stories, belly laugh and put your best foot forward.  This is the community of people you may rely upon to help you out during one of our famous winter blizzards, feed a pet when you are away from home or to borrow a cup of sugar from when a recipe requires it and your cupboard is bare.   Our neighbors are most definitely a part of our greater support system.  We can help them and in return they may lend a hand our way.  This season, why not consider sharing some sparklers or a red, white and blue Jell-O parfait?

Please have a Happy Fourth and happy festivities.

See you on the PATH Ahead,

Gillian, Shevonne, Amy and the VEHI PATH Team.

P.S. LOGISTICAL NOTE: Remember to post your photos of your weekly escapades on our PATH Facebook page — there is beauty in sharing. (Be sure to title your post and say the week you’re referring to. Also write that title on your game card so we can match your card to your posts when you mail it in at the end of the 10 weeks.)